Catalan Company

The Catalan Company was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in 1302. The company consisted of soldiers who had become unemployed by the peace between Aragon and the House of Anjou, and the company's help was enlisted by Andronicus II of Byzantium in 1303 with the goal of fighting against the encroaching Muslim Turks. De Flor took with him 39 galleys, 1,500 knights, and 4,000 Almogavars, and the company was known for pillaging Byzantine towns after defeating the Turks. The Byzantines saw the Catalans as little more than brigands due to their rapacious nature, and the Catalans proceeded to recruit 3,000 Turkic horsemen into the company. On 30 April 1305, Alan mercenaries loyal to the Byzantine emperor slew De Flor in battle, but Berenguer d'Entenca defended Gallipoli from the Greeks; the Byzantine attack was repelled, but the Catalans were decimated. In 1305, the smaller Catalan Company defeated the emperor at Apros, and they would plunder Thrace for two more years before heading south to conquer the Duchy of Athens. In 1311, the company killed Walter V of Brienne after he refused to pay them, and they conqured Thebes that same year. In 1318, the county conquered Neopatria in Thessaly, and its rule lasted until 1390, when the Navarrese Company conquered southern Greece from the Catalans.